ART CITIES: Oslo-Robel Temesgen

Robel Temesgen’s paintings and works on paper depict water, land and air in various states of fusion and transformation – turbulent or calm, bathed in a surreal, scintillating light. These ethereal landscapes are inspired by the longstanding Ethiopian belief of adbar and its associated rituals. In Amharic, the term ‘adbar’* refers to the embodiment of protective spirits within various elements of the natural landscape, such as lakes, mountains, rocks or trees.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Kunsthall Oslo Archive

Robel Temesgen is currently a PhD research fellow at the Oslo National Academy of Arts. He received his MFA in Contemporary Art from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art in 2015 and a BFA in Painting from ASFAD, Addis Ababa University in 2010. The artist presents his first institutional solo exhibition in Oslo. “Practising Water: Report #1” is the first manifestation of the artist’s long-term research project exploring the connections between bodies of water and the human communities that have formed around them. Temesgen is looking in particular at the rituals, folklore, customs and habits or forms of life that bind people and place together, and at the ways in which spirituality and animism form a bridge between the human world and the other. For “Report #1” Temesgen has used painting and performance to chart the flow, both symbolic and actual, of the waters of the Blue Nile through the Ethiopian landscape and culture. From baptisms held at Gish Abay (the source of the Lesser Nile) to the Blue Nile Falls where the river can reach hundreds of metres across, the project documents Temesgen’s literal immersion in the complex spiritual traditions of his homeland. In one telling, the river flows to Earth directly from the Christian Eden; in another, it is home to powerful Djinn that can possess human souls. A multitude of shifting narratives accompany the river’s constant transformation, as it flows from the highlands of East Africa to the Mediterranean, from the deep time of a past before history towards an unkown future. Temesgen has developed his own ritual language in response to these powerful natural and cultural forces, and to his double position as both pilgrim and artist. For the exhibition “Practising Water”, Temesgen presents documentation of five river performances, alongside the textiles and objects used in these improvised rituals. The exhibition is completed by a series of luminous and multi-layered paintings made with ink on goatskin parchment.

* In the Sodo Gurage District located about 100 km to the South of Addis Ababa, big trees and patches of forest have long been set aside, usually close to settlements, as sacred lands that could not be touched by anyone, and have been strictly protected by customary law. Such sacred trees and forests are found in various areas of the district and can never be abused and as a result biodiversity of the area has been protected. Even if the area is small, many such trees and groves may be representative of ancient woodlands and they are traditions of conservation which are backed by religious sanctions. The Gurage traditional belief, which is called Adbar, provides many protections for local biodiversity. Many group of people in each village of Sodo Gurage have their own sacred trees. Every Gurage community has his own adbar tree that is believed to be the abode of spirits

Photo: Robel Temesgen, performance at Gish Abay, 2023. From the series “Practising Water”

Info: Kunsthall Oslo, Rostockgata 2-4, Oslo, Norway, Duration: 3/3-16/4/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 12:00-17:00, http://kunsthalloslo.no/